Part One: The Idea

So I spoke earlier in my posts about a bike ride my good friend Grady and I did from SF (actually Half Moon Bay) to Santa Barbara last May. I am going to try to remember and write about our little adventure, how we planned for it and how it all went down.
This will be the first installment in the series...

The Idea:
It all went down on my birthday last year at a sushi place near Grady's apartment off Divisidero street in SF. Somewhere between the shots of sake, the sushi and the relative inability to hear each other speak over the blaring techo beats, we both decided we were going to do a long(er) bike ride. You must understand one thing though, getting Grady to commit to ANYTHING is one of the largest challenges I have ever faced in my short existence on this planet. Being tied down to a date, an obligation is just not part of G-Money's existence. However, with the help of the sake and a desire to actually follow thru, we both drunkenly agreed we would do it. A 300-400 mile bike ride from Grady's house in SF, to our old stomping ground, Santa Barbara. Our route would be right down Highway One, with nothing but (hopefully) the wind to our backs and the open road to explore.

How were we going to follow up?
When would be the best time to go?
Could we do multiple long days in the saddle?
What gear would I get to buy/sneak by my wife?

So many questions to answer. As far as timing, we initially thought late March would be a great time to head out. It was over 6 months away and would give us plenty of time to get the gear to together, plan our stops—hell, maybe even train a few days! The more we thought about it though, March could be questionable, especially concerning the possibility of bad weather. Further discussion led to our date, sometime in late May/early June. Summer would be right around the corner, the weather should be warming up and we'd have longer days to cover any time in the saddle.

We had now crossed our two greatest hurdles, getting the decision and choosing a date! I couldn't help thinking, "Damn, this might actually happen". Actually, I KNEW it was going to happen and just that gave me a great feeling of anticipation and happiness of a great journey to look forward to.

Next up, the planning...

I mean 2.54cm

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed Tuesday not to "give one inch" on British policies in Iraq or the Middle East, and said his government is determined to toughen laws against terrorists and their supporters in the wake of attacks on London's transit system.

I thought they used the metric system.

Frogs love Lance

PARIS (AFP) - Lance Armstrong overwhelmingly topped a poll amongst French people asked to nominate the greatest cyclist ever in the history of the Tour de France.

I'm board...

After an incredibly challenging week at work—where I battled timelines, deadlines, low hanging fruit and 11 hour days at work—I am happy to report I didn't have it as bad as this chick.

Another reason why boards are for building-not diving.

I'm going to try to ramp this thing up and actually get my bike trip cataloged here for my audience of one (hey there Cari) read about the trip (even after I already told her about it).

New Directions

Ok, so the whole blog thing has hit the proverbial "fork in the road". After reviewing Cari's needs- (volumes of links to other blogs, a desire to have her own "look and feel" and just because we can)-we will be featuring 2 seperate blogs. His and Hers if you will.
Cari is in the process of trying to name her blog, so this could take some time, as these kind of decisions do not come easy to her. We're bringing in a branding expert of sorts (me) to help her identify her key strengths in an effort to help define her blog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated from our audience of 3 (anybody, anybody there? ANYBODY???)

What will my online journal look like? Not too sure. Definitely not going to be some mindless (ok, after these posts), self important, attempt to be "different". Most likely just a place to document my days, any trips or adventures I may have taken (like my recent bike ride on Hwy 1 from SF to Santa Barbara), maybe some music I have been listening to, bikes I am riding and general venting.

Nuff said...

More content on the way!

I am working in my free time to figure out and fine tune this blog page. Don't be surprised to see the content/look change often as I become more familiar with how to tweak it.

Cari will be posting soon too, just have to give her the keys (password) and she will start her writing in earnest.

Welcome to Babageik News!

In an effort to allow my wife to easily update and add content, we have signed up to test this blog....
enjoy